


King of Spirits

by Guardian_Rex



Series: It Started on a Tuesday [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Acceptance of the half ghost son, DETERMINATION is involved. just not the undertale kind., F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Ghost King Danny, Jack is not a moron, M/M, Maddie is also not a moron, Multi, Proving yourself, Quest, Redemption, Summoned AU, working on the half ghost girl though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-08-20 04:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8236592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_Rex/pseuds/Guardian_Rex
Summary: Danny's world has already been flipped upside down, now it's time to turn it sideways.after a week of drama from the fact that Ghosts can be summoned with chalk, blood and latin was revealed, he's got a full plate of dealing with Dan, managing to get his home life in some semblance of order, and helping with the rebuilding of the town.  oh, and of course, there's also the Observant High Council deciding that now is the time that he needs to prove himself worthy of the crown, because nothing in his life can be simple.  Will he get through these trials with his soul intact?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> now i said I was working on a sequel didn't i? though, i went back and /just/ made this little prolouge. do tell me what you think. this is the un-beta'd version, because i'm eager for feedback.

Danny stabbed the orb with  Anriothadh and light flooded the area like a bomb going off.  A shock-wave wrenched the nearest trees from their death-grips on the earth.  The assembled humans, spirit, and half-ghosts were flung back once more.  The flood of energy that spilled out gave Elle just enough power to protect the twins from further harm, while Tucker and Sam rolled with the blast wave to keep their bones from snapping.  Jack shielded Maddie with his body, Valerie activated her shields, and Vlad and Dan found themselves pressed into the already damaged earth as though beneath an anvil.

When the light dimmed, Tucker and Sam could finally distinguish a swirling portal hovering over them all. Danny lay unconscious, their weapons were scattered around the shattered earth. Sam managed to seize SoulShredder as a hooded figure appeared from the portal but a hand beckoned. The sword was wrenched from her grip, flying to Clockwork’s outstretched hand.  The vortex of darkness vanished with a flair of electric blue light from their staff.  Clockwork turned to the humans, cloak and tunic in tatters for reasons none of them could think of, and sighed.  “It appears that even combating my foes, I arrive just in Time, eh?”

Jazz descended upon the questionable ground when a flash of light caught her attention. She turned to see a white ring enveloping her baby brother. "No! Stop!" The ring didn't listen, splitting in two and traveling over his body. She rushed to stop it but the ground kept her stumbling and off-balance. By the time she reached him, the light was turning his white hair black, his boots to shoes before vanishing, leaving Danny Fenton in its wake.  Carefully stepping over the last few cracks, Jazz checked her brother's pulse, while Sam and Tucker rushed to his side.  “I’d say you’re late based on how beaten up Danny is.”  Her tone held a fair amount of venom, mostly aimed at Vlad as well as Clockwork.  “Are you going to fix this?”  The redhead’s gaze found itself on her parents.

Maddie was visibly shaken, the hand clutching her bazooka shaking so violently she risked pulling the trigger by accident.  That was her baby boy.  Here she had been so worried that Danny was under insufficient shelter back at the school when he was in the thick of everything and risking his life.  She lifted her goggles, thinking that it might dispel the illusion because there was simply no way that the ghost boy that she and Jack had been ready to experiment on just Sunday was their Danny.  No matter how she rubbed her eyes with her glove, though, it was undeniable: that messy black hair, the pale skin, the barely there muscle that he seemed to try to hide under the long sleeved shirts he never wore before that was now clear through the rips of his red and white jacket.

“There is nothing  _ to _ fix, Jasmine,” the reply garnered shock from the trio of teenaged ghost hunters, but the Timekeeper focused upon Dan, who was beginning to rise off the ground as consciousness gripped him.  “All is as it should be.  Such a secret could not be kept from family for much longer than it already has, and so the inevitable happened in the most dramatic way possible.  Your brother can’t seem to do anything quietly.”  They tossed SoulShredder Dan’s way and grinned when he caught it.  “You will be coming with me, Daniel.  I have business to continue, and you’ll be helping me for the time being.”

Jack’s face was without expression.  He was solidly dumbfounded.  The vision he had had only the day before - Danny's ghost pinned onto a lab table, dissected and crying out for mercy - came back ten fold.  He could see them slicing into him and ignoring his cries for mercy until white turned back and green turned blue and it would have been too late and Danny would have been … he would have died because of them if it hadn’t been for the Fright Knight and that ghost girl he had called his sister.

“What is going on?”  Valerie screeched when Phantom turned into … into Danny.  Her shock turned to what she was used to dealing with: anger.  A gun was aimed in the direction of Danny - and Tucker, Sam and Jazz - and crackled with electricity.  “What have you done to Danny?  Why is Phantom in that form?  What the hell is going on here?”

“Young lady,” Maddie Fenton’s voice called out before even Clockwork could respond, her ectobazooka aimed at the Red Huntress’ chest.  “If you do not put that weapon down soon I’ll have to disarm you, and I can’t guarantee it won’t be literal.”

“I  _ can _ guarantee it  _ won’t _ be,” Jack leveled his bazooka at the Huntress and she growled, her weapon growing brighter.  His gaze was one of cold fury, something that no one expected to see from the loud and brash Jack Fenton.

“I’ll be taking my leave of you all, I suppose.”  Clockwork grabbed onto Dan’s shoulder and blue light enveloped them both, before fading away to leave an empty spot.  Conveniently enough, Vlad was nowhere to be seen.  Valerie noted this as much as Elle and Sam.

The young huntress was not forced down so easily, though, and she materialized a drone into being.  “Someone explain to me what the hell is going on, or I’m blasting Phantom into a pile of goo!”

“Like the pile of goo the two of you saved me from being?”  Elle floated over from her position with the twins and stared Valerie in the eyes.  Emerald was bathed in white light before crystal blue replaced it.  “You know exactly what’s going on here, Val.  Just like Vlad and I, Danny’s a halfa.  A hybrid.  Half ghost, half human.  And you said it yourself: you can’t kill a human.  So put the guns down, and we can talk about this.”

“Talk later,” Tucker interjected from his position over Danny, helping Jazz check his vitals and taking over when the elder made to brandish her own weapons at the raging vigilante.  “Danny needs medical attention, yesterday.”  He turned to Elle, practically ignoring everyone else’s presence.  “Can you fly him to a hospital or are you too tired?”

“I’m gonna need an energy drink when I’m done, but I can handle it.”  She turned her gaze to Valerie once more, putting every ounce of determination she could into her eyes.  “I’m taking Danny to the hospital now, Valerie.  If you wanna shoot us down while we’re too weak to properly fight back, be my guest.”  A flash of white, and she was by Danny’s side, gathering his larger frame into her arms.  The sound of metal folding in on itself could be heard as Valerie’s weapons disassembled themselves.

“Is taking him to a hospital really the smartest thing to do, Danielle?” Sam asked with a sigh.  “What are they gonna do when they run blood tests and find green mixed in with the red?”  The goth bit her lip in worry and stared at the sword that Danny had been using, shimmering like a mirage in the desert heat as it began to fade from visibility.  “The Far Frozen, they healed him when Undergrowth attacked and took over everyone’s minds!”

“The Far Frozen is too far away from here without the infimap,” Jazz sighed, trying to think of some other way to help her brother in his time of need.  It frustrated her to no end that there was no fast and reliable option.  “Unless Elle has suddenly developed the ability to form portals on her own,” a shake of the youngest halfa’s head to her hopeful glance.  “Danny could die of exhaustion by the time she got halfway there,  _ after _ getting to the portal at FentonWorks.”

Maddie walked up to Elle and crouched down.  A spark of protective power flickered in the ghost girl’s eyes and she backed away from the older huntress.  Maddie rolled her eyes.  “I’m not going to hurt my baby boy.  I don’t know what’s going on or how, but all I need to know right now is that my children are in need of care and my husband and I are the best equipped to handle the situation, being the only specialists in ectobiology here with medical equipment.  Now you will give me my baby, or I will show you what a trained ghost hunter can do to a weakened ghost.”

Elle’s eyes widened at how the Fenton matriarch’s tone dropped, and the atmosphere became charged.  “I already know what a trained ghost hunter like you can do to a weakened ghost,”  she spat out with more venom than any who knew her would expect.  “After all, Danny’s told me about how much better your aim is than your husband’s when the two of you were trying to shoot him out of the sky.”

Tucker sighed loudly and walked over, placing a hand on the tense ghost girl’s shoulder.  “Elle, give Danny to his mother and trust that if anything bad happens to him, Sam, Jazz, and I are not liable for how the law may perceive our following actions.”  Tucker met Dr. Fenton’s steely gaze with one of his own, the gauntlet on his arm recharged by the blast as much as Elle was.  “After all, we’ve been looking out for him for over a year now, we’re not gonna stop now just because of a minor bump in the road.”

Elle nodded and, after a moment of staring at Maddie’s outstretched hands, gave her brother over to his mother.  Maddie stood and adjusted her hold on him so that his head was properly supported on her shoulder before turning to the Fenton GAV.  Jack was already making his way there, bazooka still armed and ready.  Elle turned to Valerie with a sigh.  “I can carry one, but not two.  Think you can help me get the Pates to the hospital?”

Even though she couldn’t see through the dark red visor, Elle could imagine the bewildered look on Valerie’s face, the thoughts running through her head before she nodded and hovered over towards the boys.  Elle picked up Rick while Val grabbed George and the two rose up a few dozen feet in the air.  Elle turned to Tuck, Sam, and Jazz with a tight smile.  “I’ll see you guys later.  I’ll need to get back to the spirit world so that I can rest up properly and then get back to help Danny some.”

“We’ll make sure he’s in one piece when you get back,” Jazz assured as the pair flew off, and turned to follow after her parents.  “You two head home.  I can handle my parents if something goes wrong, and I’ll contact you immediately upon gaining any information on Danny’s condition.”  Sam opened her mouth to argue, but Jazz raised a hand to stop her.  “My parents and I  _ can _ file charges of trespassing if you come to the house right now, and don’t think I won’t go to those extremes to make sure you go and lift your own family's’ worries about your safety.  Your mothers and fathers must be worried sick right now, or possibly injured by the shattered glass, and it’ll do more harm than good if you get put on house arrest - both figuratively and literally - because you wanted to stand guard over Danny.”

While everyone made their ways home or to the hospital, Jazz climbed in the GAV behind her parents, hoping everyone's fears were unfounded.  Just what were her parents going to do now that they knew about Danny being a hybrid?

* * *

 

Green and black swirled around them and for a moment, Dan thought that he had imagined it.  Then he turned to look at the hand clasped around his shoulder and nearly wept.   _ He _ had done that,  _ him _ .  Not Plasmius, not Vlad, not some demon that had reached inside of him and ripped him from himself, dug deeper and forced its way into his core.  This was  _ him _ , and his actions and his body once again and he was finally Free!  Green light swirled around his hand like fire and curled around his form.  He stretched out, reached all around and twisted in every way that he could imagine.  There were no chains, no claws, no lava burning and restricting him, keeping him just a hair away from controlling his own actions.

“Finally, after all these years, I’m alone.”  Dan began to laugh, loud and joyous and just a tad crazed.  Someone cleared their throat, silencing him.  The Phantom turned to the Time Keeper and the weight of all he had done when merged with Plasmius came crashing down on his party.  He was alone, in another timeline where everyone who knew him hated him, and if he ever dared to go back to his own - if he ever could - he would be persecuted for all the things that he and Plasmius did.  They’d kill him in an instant.

“I hate to rain on your parade so early, truly I do,” The elderly spirit gestured towards the darkness that loomed much closer than Dan remembered in his travels through the Zone.  “I have business to attend to, and as my responsibility, I’m taking you.  Grab the sword and come with me.”  They turned towards the shadows, though Dan knew they kept their attention on him.

With a sigh, he looked down at the sword floating in front of him.  Soul Shredder, the Blade of Nightmares.  “What happened to the Fright Knight?”  The man’s fingers paused over the leather grip when he was met with silence and his gaze shifted back to the Time Keeper.  “Clockwork?”

“He’s dead, Daniel.”  They did not need to turn to see the hurt and shock painted over Dan’s face.  “Slain by Plasmius for betraying both him and the young prince.  The sword now belongs to the nearest member of the royal family and that happens to be you.  After all,” the turned with their usual stoic expression.  “You took Pariah down just as this world’s Daniel did.  You just happened to destroy the sarcophagus with him in it before you passed out.”

Dan’s face settled into iron cold determination as he grasped the sword, a shudder running through him when he felt power rush into him and reach for his mind.  He stamped that out with a flash of rage strong enough to bring flames to his palm.  No sword would touch his mind, nor would anyone else.  Not ever again.  Turning to Clockwork he quirked a brow.  “Now what?”

“Now,” Clockwork said with a grimmer tone than before.  “We fight.  Your experience with demons is not over, Daniel, and for that, I am truly sorry.”  they turned back to the shadows and raised their staff, revealing a pure white light that burned Dan’s retinas with its intensity.  Then the shrieking began.  “This is not as it should be.”

* * *

 

Over the howling winds and gusts of sulfur, a vampiric demon heard the roars and screams of other, lesser, demons.  Food.  Stalking through the wisps of color and plasma that made up his world, the vampire pounced upon his prey - an elephant with bright green skin, gleaming red eyes, six legs, and tusks twice the size of any on earth.  He sank his talons into the thick hide as though it were butter, digging through flesh until he pierced the brain.  He was in no mood to truly fight his dinner today.

Once his meal was done, Plasmius stretched and took in a deep breath.  He let it out in a burst of flame that burned away the bones of the beast he had consumed, turning them to ash and melting scalding pools in the slightly hardened lava upon which he stood.   **“Mere mortal children were enough to force** **_me_ ** **back to this wretched place?  Inconceivable!  I am practically a god to those damnable humans and the bane of any fool spirit that dares to cross my path!** ”  He clawed at the ground and ripped apart the acidic atmosphere, claws, and fangs bared in challenge to the dying world itself.

Once he was finally calmed, Plasmius made his way to his home in this dimension.  “ **There does happen to be a bright side here, at least.  The boy opened up a portal to our world, ripping open a boundary he wasn’t meant to.  The barrier is weakened, finally!”**  As soon as he reached the doors of his home, Plasmius raised a ball of lightning to torture whoever dared enter his home.  “ **Who has the gall to walk into** **_my_ ** **home uninvited?** ”

“ **Someone who has obviously gotten better at hiding his power, Plasmius.** ”  A being with charcoal on traffic cone colored skin sat sipping away at a cup of tea.  A tail lashed back and forth behind him, and he grinned at the returning demonic leech.  “ **I see that my plans and efforts have treated you well.** ”

“ **Kiruc you cur,”** the vampire hissed, absorbing his electrical energy.  “ **What are you doing here?** ”

“ **Well, after a long battle with that twice damned Time Sentinel, I decided to treat myself to some of your tea.  Truly, it’s a rather pleasant flavor you keep here.** ”  They grinned, pearly white rows of teeth befitting a shark bared in Plasmius’ direction.  “ **Please do sit, have a cup of tea.  We have much to discuss, starting with how you’re going to get another mortal to invite you onto earth.** ”

* * *

 

“He isn’t ready.”

“This is true.”

“Too young.”

 

“He is needed.”

“We have no choice.”

“He’s old enough.”

 

“We always have a choice.”

“We do not  _ need _ him.”

“He hasn’t the experience.”

 

“Since when do we ever have a choice?”

“He has declared sentences under the title of king, should he not earn the right?”

“He’ll get experience as he goes.”

 

“Since when do we rely on children?”

“The citizens can band together, become soldiers.”

“There’s far too much for him to go through in such a short time.”

  
  


“And that’s why the longer we wait, the less time he’ll have.”

“He deserves a day of rest.”

 

“Deserves it?  He needs it.  Otherwise, he’ll never pass the trials.”

“True, very true.  It is decided then?”

  
  


“It is.”

“He shall be tested soon.”


	2. Life is Forward Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's comatose basically, Valerie is realizing how little she knows about Elle, The Fentons have a ways to go to get to the house, and Elle has some shit to deal with because people get attemtps to Summon a Phantom both wrong and right at the same time.

_ He wasn’t alone.   _

_ There was an expanse of dark color around him so vast and seemingly empty that it reminded him of the time he had flown into space, if a rainbow burned at the edge of the universe that was.  The only sound he could properly make out sounded eerily close.   _

_ He wasn’t alone. _

_ It smelled like so many things at once it was hard to make a distinction.  A forest just after a rain storm, countless types of wood burning in a fire, the saltiness of the ocean, a sharp winter breeze, metal burning from an electrical discharge, ozone filling the air before a strike of lightening. _

_ He wasn’t alone. _

_ It felt warm and cool at the same time, the air firm yet free, pressure fluctuating and currents rushing at the drop of a dime.  He could taste metal, vegetable, concrete, bone, water, acid, the sting of lightning. _

_ He wasn’t alone. _

_ There was another pressure.  One that pressed against his core, made his newer senses blare in alarm at the magnitude and intensity of what they were picking up on.  That’s what it was, of course.  He wasn’t seeing all of this, wasn’t tasting or smelling or feeling it.  That static in his ears, the pressure in his lungs that wouldn’t stop building even though he hadn’t stopped exhaling.  It was all his new sense telling him in ways his brain could understand that something was there, something massive, something intelligent, something Powerful. _

**_He wasn’t alone_ ** _! _

_ He turned and saw, truly saw, what was setting off every molecule of his being.  That sound, it was the beating of wings.  Six of them, large enough to whip up the storm raging around him as the thing approached.  It was far away, but not for long.  Not if it was so big that it looked as though a normal sized humanoid from this distance.  Ten lights shined out in his direction, and he froze with terror. _

**_I S E E Y O U_ **

* * *

 

Valerie flew alongside the silver haired child that she had been wishing to see not even two days ago, unsure of what to think.  She had teamed up with Phantom to help save her, acknowledged her humanity with a bit of talking, and just fought with her against an enemy that would have wiped the floor with them if everyone involved hadn’t been there.  And yet, the huntress felt doubt crawling into her mind.  Danielle had called herself Phantom’s cousin, but… Phantom was Danny.  Looking past the impossibility of such a statement, she had asked Danny about his family when they were dating.  He had an aunt Alicia, a grandfather named William, and an Uncle John.  Neither his aunt nor his uncle had children, Danny had said so himself.  So if that was true, what was the real connection between the two?  Why had they lied to her?

The enigma flying unsteadily next to her began her descent when the hospital came into view, having been protected by the shining green dome that was a Fenton Ghost Shield.  Say what you want about the intelligence of anyone in this town, the medical professionals at least had the forethought to make sure they and their patients were protected.  They landed a foot in front of the dome, where a worker came up to them and gasped.  “Those are Raven’s boys!  What happened to them?”

“Red,” Elle gently placed Rick on the ground and hovered an inch or so.  “I  _ need _ to get back to the Spirit World before I pass out, can you please handle this?”  In her peripheral vision, Elle could see the wary nurse gathering Rick in her arms and rising to her feet, but her focus was on Valerie.  She couldn’t make out anything through that damn visor of hers.  Perhaps that was the point but it was frustrating, not being able to tell how the older was feeling by looking into her eyes.  Still, she tried, pleading silently what she didn't have the energy to put into words.  This secret was more than just hers, after all.  It was Danny’s, and she had no right to reveal it to the public without his permission, nor did she have any interest in doing so.

Finally, Valerie nodded and the ghost girl gave her a quick hug around her neck before darting off in the direction of Fentonworks, trying to ignore the destruction all around her.

* * *

 

“Jasmine,” Jack startled his daughter by actually using her full first name.  “We’re not going to hurt Danny.  Never in a million years, hell we don’t even believe in corporal punishment.”  He sighed heavily and turned a corner to avoid puddles of melted concrete and tar.  “So we need to know what’s up with him as much as you can tell us.”

“His new standard pulse is 38 beats per minute,” she responded after a beat, a hand on Danny to keep him steady through the twists and turns that her father had to take to maneuver around all the destruction caused by the unleashed ghosts.  “His temperature is normally 49 degrees Fahrenheit.  He feels warmer than usual right now but his pulse is regular.”

“We’ll have to get him some ice and check to see how much ectoplasmic energy is currently in his system,” Jack hummed, gritting his teeth in frustration when they approached a downed tree.  With the press - or slam - of a button, buzz saws erupted from the GAV and began cutting through the obstacle.

“Jazz…”  Maddie started, turning her seat around to look her eldest in the eye.  “What can you tell us about that ghost girl who Danny was calling his sister?”  She certainly only gave birth to two children, so it could only have been in an emotional sense.

“Elle?”  Jazz raised her gaze from Danny a moment with furrowed brows.  What could she say about the youngest halfa that wouldn’t be a breach of the girl’s trust?  At least some of the truth, to assuage her parents’ worries.  “Danielle shares DNA with Danny, has a past with Vlad, disowned him and has taken up the name Elle Phantom.  Any other information, you’ll have to ask her for.”

Maddie found herself insanely curious but nodded in agreement.  That wasn’t the pressing matter right now, and Jack had finally gotten through that log and was heading down the street again.  She just hoped they could get to the house in time.

* * *

 

Elle had intended to go to Fenton Works, jump in the portal, and get to either the forest with Mokuto or the Ghost Writer’s library so that she could rest up and gather the strength she needed to help Danny further.  It was a pretty solid plan in her opinion, but apparently, Fate disagreed and decided she needed a detour.  There was a feeling in her core, unfamiliar and alien and alarming.  It pulled on her with as much force as she had pulled power from the air to keep Danny from transforming mid-air and she felt the cold static of her transformation rings snap into existence and race over her form.  In a flash, she was somewhere other than the skies of the scarred Amity Park, and she didn’t like it.

The place had an underground vibe to it, probably the basement of someone’s house.  The walls were polished concrete, there were boxes all around and the scent of fish could faintly be smelled wafting in from above.  Unfortunately, that was overshadowed by the smell of blood that Elle knew all too well from her times healing people.  Below her was a circle similar to Danny’s, but with a few mistakes and far too many symbols to be what the Pates had figured out.  The symbols didn’t carry much of Elle’s focus, though, not when she could see a boy around Danny’s age gasping for breath and bound in ropes.

A shriek escaped the ghost girl’s lips as she dropped down and her boots made prints in the pool of red.  She could feel right then that he was fading fast, not enough blood, not enough of his own energy to help her heal him.  There was a voice, someone was talking.  “...ot lord Phantom, who are you?”

_ “You  _ **_dare_ ** _ take an innocent life in the name of my brother? _ ”  Elle hissed like a snake and felt her aura flaring up with power from the blood that was slowly losing color at her feet.  Green fire reached out from her body and planted itself on each other the assembled cultist’s chests - ten in all, this would be enough, this could work, she could  _ save him _ \- and the ghost girl’s hands were placed over the open wound.  Pink light streamed from the tendrils, from the people that were now screaming in pain that they deserved, to Elle through her glowing hands into the teenager.  The tips of her gloves vanished in a flash of light and the energy flowed more freely.  The wound sealed itself up from the inside out, the bleeding stopped, and Elle could feel him getting healthier.

Once she was sure that he was ok, she reached for the ropes binding his wrists and burned through them.  The tendrils retracted themselves from the cultists and they fell to the floor in heaps of agony.  Elle rose a foot off the floor once the boy was free and fixed her gaze on the woman who had been questioning why Danny wasn’t there instead.  “ _ Don’t you ever call out to me or my brother ever again, you sick fucks.  We Phantoms want nothing to do with human sacrifice or any sacrifice of any kind.” _  She looked over to the boy and took a deep breath.  “ _ Tell the police about these guys, ok? _ ”  He nodded, wide-eyed and frightful, and Elle looked around the room again.  She wondered how she could possibly get to the Spirit World now and groaned.

Just before she could demand one of the cultists wake up and undo whatever it was that had called her here, her rings appeared once again and fast as lightning she was in front of the library.

* * *

 Stumbling into his home, conveniently untouched by the catastrophe closer to the heart of the city, Vlad made his way to the nearest restroom and emptied the contents of his stomach.  For a full minute he did nothing but allow his body to purge itself of everything within that could exit through his mouth.  When finally he was able to breathe, the eldest half ghost wiped the bile from his chin and lip on his sleeve and flushed the toilet, moving to the sink where he washed his mouth out to rid himself of that horrid taste.  A look into the mirror showed a ghastly face.  His skin was so pale it was almost blue, his eyes looked to have sunken into their sockets like the light of day offended them, and his hair was as white as Daniel’s in ghost form but without the same lustrous sheen.

Whatever had happened in that battle had done something to him and his body was reacting almost as violently as when he had gotten ecto acne.  He leaned against the porcelain sink and caught his breath.  He felt wrong, down to his very core.  He wasn’t the blazing heat that he used to be but so cold that he would be shivering if not for sheer force of will.  “What the hell is happening to me?”  When the empty fancy bowl gave no answer, Vlad attempted to shift into his ghost form and gasped from the cold.  It wasn’t the same chill of the ghost zone that had become somewhat natural to him, but the ice that Daniel attacked him with earlier.  It was biting, spread to his bones and his lungs and veins, made every part of him slow down and threatened to force him to a complete stop.

A bit of wheezing and Vlad sank to his knees, trying to clear his thoughts.  “Ok… Ok.  My ghost form is a bad option at the moment, my pulse having nearly stopped just now.”  And wasn’t that terrifying, that he could feel how slow his heart was beating now compared to the past two decades.  “My temperature has dropped significantly, my pulse has done the same, my skin is unhealthily pale, and my stomach has just emptied itself to the point that I would barely have any stomach acid to heave if something triggered my gag reflex.”  He slowly rose to his feet, cautious of any other physical outbursts from his uncooperative body.  “Conclusion?  Something has triggered a purge response from my body…”

He made his way to his bedroom, a hand on the wall for support as he did so.  Once he was there, he hit the button on his intercom for his ghostly butler and requested that orange slices and some peppermint tea be sent up in half an hour.  For now, he needed rest, as there was little chance that his body was done getting something out.  Whatever that something was, he couldn’t be sure.

* * *

 When Sam got home she was shocked to find her mother and father at the front door with grandma Ida, waiting for her.  “Samantha!”  Her mother proved that people can move rather quickly in high heels, as she was wrapped in a hug about as fast as she could blink.  Her father and grandmother were there only a moment later they began fretting almost immediately.  “Sammy, where have you been?  I called your phone at least twenty times, I checked everywhere that people were taking shelter and we couldn’t find you anywhere!”

“Um…”  Sam realized now that her phone must have fallen out of her pocket during the fight with the sand raccoon, and likely got destroyed.

“Kiddo, I know you’re a free spirit and all,” Ida startled Sam through the tears smudging her mother’s makeup and trailing down her dad’s cheeks.  “But do me a favor and try not ta put my old ticker to the test like this, eh?”

“Samantha, your stomach!”  A finger brushed against the burn she received from Dan and she winced, moving her arms to cover it up.  “What happened?”

“A stray ectoblast from the fight that went down in the park,” she said mechanically, letting the half truth come without thought as she tried to process this.  Sure, she always knew that her parents loved and cared about her but after most ghost attacks, even the ones in the school, they never freaked out quite this much.  “A little burn cream should do just fine for it.”  Perhaps she should stay home for the day, try to have a family night.

After all, now that the fight was over, Sam could feel all of what she did settle into her system as exhaustion, and all she wanted was to lay down and do nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was Elle violent in her reaction? Yes! a homeless kid who's got the chance to help someone not die isn't gonna show any kindness to attempted murderers  
> also, Vlad's body is purging all those demonic left overs from Plasmius.


	3. apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> well fuck, I feel I should say sorry to you all.

**Ok SO I'm not the best when it comes to keeping on track with everything, but I felt I should say this to all who have gotten this far.  I am discontinuing this series.  It started out as just a thought of 'what if Danny got summoned with demonic summoning circles?' and a fight scene between Danny and Vlad in my head, and then this all happened.  It could have been so much better, and I did start rewriting it.  I think I got to chapter 9 before I gave up on it, and I'm here to tell you all that I have in fact given up on this story.  My own standards have risen for my works, and so my focus is being shifted to Phantom Age and Infinite Realms.  In that order since I'm rewriting Phantom Age as well.  Don't worry, I've got outlines.**

**If anyone wants to try and continue this on for themselves, just ask me and I'll shoot you all the little plot points that were supposed to be goin on in all this, maybe even give you the scenes I never finished.  I want to apologize, as it's been a _while_ since I gave up on this story line.**

**Author's Note:**

> No, those aren't observants at the end. no, i will not tell you who they are right now. yes, i do want you to tell me your guesses in the comments section.


End file.
